


Boyd's No Good Very Bad Time

by Puregold



Series: Mark Beaks is a dick and I love Gyro [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Family Bonding, Family Issues, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Manipulation, Rescue Missions, also idgaf abt the drakes boyd is gyros kid in this one, if u came for mark beaks/falcon graves im sorry to disappoint, this is a fic abt boyd and gyro mostly, tw for mark beaks being an asshole and manipulating a child aha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:47:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25266334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puregold/pseuds/Puregold
Summary: ”Woah woah woah, hey! What’s the rush? Let me at least buy you an ice cream. You deserve to treat yourself after the morning you’ve had, after all.” Mark began, placing a firm hand on Boyd’s shoulder.Boyd made an uncomfortable noise in the back of his throat as he contemplated Mark’s offer. He was sureoneice cream wouldn’t hurt…”Okay…” He relented, Mark exclaiming a’Yes!’as he rushed them across the street and over to the ice cream truck.The line was gone when they got there, and Boyd smiled excitedly as he eyed the menu. “One freezerbunny pop, please!”A large, scary-looking falcon wearing a white hat and apron leaned out the window, saying in a gruff British accent, “Unfortunately, we’re all out today.”The falcon then slammed on a button, and a large claw-like metal grabber emerged from the side of the truck and snatched Boyd up, throwing him inside a small cage inside the ice cream truck as he screamed in shock.”Aww, too bad!” Mark laughed. “Better luck next time, kid!” He then clambered inside the ice cream truck behind Boyd before promptly shutting the doors, blocking out the outside world and enveloping Boyd in its darkness.
Relationships: B.O.Y.D. (Disney: DuckTales) & Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera, B.O.Y.D. (Disney: DuckTales) & Gyro Gearloose, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera/Gyro Gearloose, Mark Beaks/Falcon Graves
Series: Mark Beaks is a dick and I love Gyro [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830457
Comments: 9
Kudos: 65





	1. Just A Simple Mistake

About a month had passed since Boyd had revisited Tokyolk with his mentor/father-figure, Dr. Gyro Gearloose, and he had since been placed in his custody. Boyd transferred his funds into the Drake’s parent’s bank account, and due to his rather peculiar nature as an android child, mutually decided to move in with Dr. Gearloose whilst his old parents took Doofus to family therapy. It was a little hard, and definitely awkward, but Boyd couldn’t be happier to be back in the loving arms of his creator!

...Sort of. Gyro wasn’t really big on hugs, Boyd had discovered. Not like he used to be. He was also a lot grumpier than when Boyd first met him, and he could sometimes come across as cold and distant… But that’s okay! Boyd loved him just the same, after all. He went from sleeping on the couch to having his own room in no-time, Gyro making quick work of revamping his home office into a small room for him. And after a few nights of refuting a bedtime story, Boyd’s wide, damp eyes sealed the deal and Gyro was reading him children’s tales every night. Sometimes, thinking it would bore him to sleep, Gyro would ramble on about science, yet Boyd only absorbed the knowledge like a sponge.

Still, though, they were making progress, it was just taking some time. If only Boyd were a little less impatient!

It was a day like any other in the underwater McDuck laboratory when _the incident_ occurred. Gyro was working on something _big_ and _new_ and _inventive_ , as he had bragged about to both Fenton and Boyd. Usually, on days when Boyd wasn’t busy with school, friends, or Junior Woodchuck meetings, he would accompany Gyro to the lab and play quietly while he would work. Boyd was playing by himself, over by Gyro’s desk while he was upstairs getting some coffee.

”Woo! Get ‘em, Hopewing, she’s not afraid of anything!” Boyd said to himself as he played with his superhero action figure, having her fly through the sky.

He waved his arm, making whooshing and pewing noises as he did so, not realizing that both Gyro’s invention and his open cup of coffee were dangerously close to each other. As he made Hopewing take a sudden dive, his arm collided with the coffee, causing it to spill over and directly onto Gyro’s invention. Boyd froze, startled, making a little _’eep!’_ noise as he set down his toy, picked up and threw away the empty cup, and grabbed paper towels to start furiously scrubbing down the counter.

Oh, was the invention okay!? Gyro was going to kill him if anything bad happened to it! Boyd, after scrubbing down the counter and invention with dry paper towels, then got a couple of wet paper towels to mop up the sticky residue left behind. Despite being a highly intelligent robot, it did not occur to him in his moment of panic that perhaps Gyro’s electronic invention wouldn’t respond well to water as he tried to scrub the coffee stains out. The machine made a low whirring noise and let out a stray spark, furthering Boyd’s frantic panicking as he grabbed more paper towels. Attempting to scrub the exterior dry, the paper towels got abruptly sucked into a slight opening in the machine, causing it to make a _thunk_ noise and seemingly go dead. A second later, all the panels on the machine flew open and it spontaneously caught fire. Boyd shrieked in fear before running over to grab a fire extinguisher and hastily struggling to put the fire out, right when the elevator door opened and out stepped both Gyro and Fenton.

For a split second, Gyro seemed calm as he was having a pleasant conversation with Fenton, until his eyes caught sight of Boyd _ruining his work_ and he spit out his coffee in disbelief and agitation.

”WHAT is going on in here!?” He shrieked, storming over to both Boyd and his invention.

”I-it was an accident! I’m sorry! I was playing and your coffee was there and I-”

”Ah-ah! Zip it, I don’t care I just need to _put this thing out!_ ” He said frantically as he grabbed the fire extinguisher from Boyd, putting out the small fire emitting from his work. The second the fire was out Gyro was fretting, hastily looking all over his ruined invention. “Ohh, no no no no no, what did you _do_? Ah, this is going to take me _weeks_ to fix! And the board meeting is only in a few days…” Gyro let out a loud, frustrated groan.

”I’m sorry! I really didn’t mean to! I was trying to fix it! I-”

”Ah! Not another word out of _you_ , mister. Now go home, I have to spend the rest of the day fixing your mess here.” Gyro replied, agitation lacing his voice.

”O-okay… I-I’m really sorry…” Boyd said as he shuffled his feet, looking to the floor in shame.

Gyro said nothing as Boyd quickly turned to leave, running for the elevator and hurriedly pressing the button to get back uptop.

”...Are you sure he’s okay getting home by himself? That was pretty harsh.” Said Fenton, wanting to give his boyfriend the benefit of the doubt, yet still bringing attention to Boyd’s feelings.

”Oh, please. He has a map of the city implanted in his brain, he knows the bus schedule and he has change. He’ll be fine.” Gyro grabbed a couple of tools before sitting back at his desk and sliding closer to his ruined work. “Now, to start on this…”

Fenton decided to drop the topic for now, since Gyro was clearly so keen to. He knew that letting Gyro stew in silence was probably the best approach, knowing that sooner rather than later his own feelings of guilt would catch up to him and he’d go home and apologize to Boyd pronto.

* * *

As soon as the elevator doors slid shut, Boyd’s lip wobbled and he pressed his hands firmly against his eyes before letting out a tiny sob. He didn’t mean to make Gyro so angry with him, he was only trying to help and yet look where that got him… He hoped Gyro wouldn’t be so angry by the time he got home.

As Boyd left the money bin, he made sure to stick to the walls and get out as fast as possible; he didn’t want other people to see he was crying after all. He didn’t even know why he was crying, Gyro was the one who deserved to feel bad, not him. He just had a very important piece of tech ruined! I mean, how would he feel if Gyro threw his favorite tablet at the wall and destroyed it? Boyd began trudging along towards the bus stop, looking down in shame and fiddling with his hands, sniffling to himself and trying to keep the tears from flowing to prevent people staring. As he rounded the corner, he came to a stop as he was quickly distracted by an ice cream truck parked nearby and a small line. He _did_ have some pocket change after all, maybe enough to get something small…

No, only good boys deserve ice cream, and good boys don’t go around destroying important things, like inventions... or… _cities_ … As Boyd began to grow uncomfortable with his thoughts, on the verge of fresh tears, a voice behind him startled him.

”Heeyyy, kid! You remember me?”

As Boyd jumped and yelped at the sudden intrusion, the voice laughed. “Whoa, calm down buddy! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Boyd turned to look at whoever was speaking to him, then quickly realized it was a previous caretaker of his, Mark Beaks. Upon this discovery, he swiped at his eyes and took a couple steps back to look up at his former father. “M-Mr. Beaks?”

”Why so formal? Call me daddy-o, yo!” Mark laughed to himself, before crouching to get on eye-level with Boyd. “What’s the haps, my man? Where have you been all this time?”

”Uh…” Boyd began suspiciously. “I was with the Drakes, after you left me at Doofus’s birthday party…” He trailed off, quietly. “Then I went to Tokyolk to discover my past, and now I’m with Dr. Gearloose…”

” _Gyro_ Gearloose!? You’re hanging around _that_ fuddy-duddy!? Hah!” Mark slapped his knee in laughter before standing up straight. “C’mon, you deserve waaay better than that! I bet he doesn’t have any cool toys or games or does any fun stuff.”

”We have games and fun stuff.” Boyd was quick to reply, defensive on the behalf of his creator. “We play all the time!”

”Hm, really? Does he take you to Funso’s? To get ice cream and fly kites? I bet he doesn’t even have _one_ trampoline at his place. Me? I’ve got ten!” Mark bragged.

”He doesn’t _need_ to take me to Funso’s, or ice cream or kites. He- he lo- he cares about me, and that’s all that matters…” Boyd replies stubbornly, putting his ‘stranger danger’ training to good use. Though, he supposed Mark wasn’t technically a stranger…

Mark smirked to himself slightly as he caught Boyd’s slip-up. “Oh, really? Then where is he now? Surely he didn’t just leave you alone out here?”

Boyd flushed in embarrassment, shifting on his feet as he looked away. “Um, I’m actually just heading home, he’s going to meet me there later-”

”Well, why aren’t you with him now? I know he gets cooped up in that big ole lab of his.”

Boyd only blushed further as he looked to the ground. “...He’s sort of mad at me right now-”

Mark let out a strong gasp of performative disapproval. “Oh, NO! What could he possibly have to be mad at you for!?”

”...I messed up an invention on accident.” Boyd trailed off awkwardly.

”Well, if it was an accident, then there’s nothing for him to be mad about! I’ll bet he yelled at you all mean-like, didn’t he?” Mark urged, subtly sliding closer to Boyd as he spoke.

”He- he has a right to be mad…” Boyd responded uncertainly.

”Well, sure, but to yell at you and send you home all alone? Over an _accident_? I mean, the world’s a dangerous, scary place! What if something were to happen to you?” Mark replied, his face twisting into an expression of false concern. “He can be real mean like that, can’t he?”

Boyd started to grow uncomfortable with the conversation, he didn’t like that Mark seemed to be throwing his creator under the bus. “Well… It was nice seeing you again, but I better get going-”

”Woah woah woah, hey! What’s the rush? Let me at least buy you an ice cream. You deserve to treat yourself after the morning you’ve had, after all.” Mark began, placing a firm hand on Boyd’s shoulder.

Boyd made an uncomfortable noise in the back of his throat as he contemplated Mark’s offer. He was sure _one_ ice cream wouldn’t hurt…

”Okay…” He relented, Mark exclaiming a _’Yes!’_ as he rushed them across the street and over to the ice cream truck.

The line was gone when they got there, and Boyd smiled excitedly as he eyed the menu. “One freezerbunny pop, please!”

A large, scary-looking falcon wearing a white hat and apron leaned out the window, saying in a gruff British accent, “Unfortunately, we’re all out today.”

The falcon then slammed on a button, and a large claw-like metal grabber emerged from the side of the truck and snatched Boyd up, throwing him inside a small cage inside the ice cream truck as he screamed in shock.

”Aww, too bad!” Mark laughed. “Better luck next time, kid!” He then clambered inside the ice cream truck behind Boyd before promptly shutting the doors, blocking out the outside world and enveloping Boyd in its darkness.

“Step on it, Graves!”

The falcon, who Boyd assumed was Graves, obeyed the command as the ice cream truck began speeding down the road. Fear was an understatement as he trembled inside the small cage and looked up at Mark.

”W-where are you taking me!?”

”Relax, kid, I’m not gonna harm a single feather on your _precious_ little head.” He then leaned down to pluck one of Boyd’s head feathers, causing him to wince in pain. “That is, unless you provoke me.”

Boyd pouted and rubbed his head. “Gizmoduck and Gyro are gonna stop you!” He shouted in defiance.

”Oh, really? You think _they’re_ gonna stop me? Gizmoduck, sure, I mean, he’ll _try_ , but Gyro? Hah!” He squatted on the floor beside Boyd as he mocked. “He doesn’t even see you as a kid, much less _his_ kid. You’re just another piece of tech to him.”

”Y-you’re wrong…” Boyd objected, covering his ears and shutting his eyes to block out the bad thoughts Mark was filling his head with.

”Oh, am I so wrong? Remember when you destroyed an entire city like an evil killing machine? Oh, wait, no you didn’t! Not until recently, anyway. You _did_ remember Gyro though, that he used to say all kinds of encouraging things and help you with those test runs? Called you a real boy? Man, that must’ve been nice.” Boyd squinted, confused at what Mark was saying to him and how he knew all this information regarding his past. “And then years later when you _finally got to see him again, what did he say to you? I know it’s in those memory banks somewhere, kid.”_

Boyd shook his head furiously, squeezing his hands tighter against his head. “No!”

”He called you a _thing_ , a dangerous machine, a failed experiment… I’m sure that must have hurt.”

Boyd felt artificial tears well up in his eyes as he sniffled, he didn’t like thinking of those memories and how much it _did_ hurt, and he especially didn’t like Mark throwing it in his face.

”He was gonna shut you down, Boyd, remember when he said that?”

”Stop! Leave me alone!” Boyd protested, crying softly into his hands as Mark kept saying all those terrible things to him.

”Eugh, _gross_ , but good content.” Mark replied, before turning on a video camera to show himself posing with the captive Boyd. “Hey, y’all! As you can see, I got your boy- or your dangerous killing machine or whatever- and this time I got a little extra _help_ enacting my revenge plan! Good luck finding us, I just wanted to flex on the fact that I’ve got him and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”

”I-I’m sorry Dr. Gearloose, Gizmoduck, please come rescue me!” Boyd pleaded, wiping desperate tears from his eyes. “I-I didn’t mean to ruin your stuff earlier, I’m really scared!”

”Ooh, yikes. Pretty fucked up kid you got there, fellas. Anyways, peace!” Mark turned off the camera, before standing and making his way over to the passengers seat beside Graves, leaving Boyd to cry alone as he overheard their conversation. “I wanted to thank you again for getting me all that precious info on Boyd. Really came in handy!”

”The proper intel is always the most important step in building a successful revenge plot.” Graves hummed. “And of course, I already have our next destination set for switching to a more inconspicuous vehicle.”

Mark Beaks cackled to himself triumphantly. “Perfect! Now it’s just a matter of getting where we need to go, doing a little reprogramming on a certain definitely real boy, and we’re rolling!”

Boyd froze in fear at the mention of reprogramming him. Last time he was reprogrammed by Mark, he lost all of his memories. It was frightening, coming to the realization that he was an android who had only been alive for a day and had given him the strongest identity crises he’d ever felt. He never wanted to experience that again.

Boyd struggled to sit up and peer out the window, watching the clouds go by and praying that his family would come find him soon.


	2. The Search Begins

Gyro had tried to work, struggling to make any sort of worthwhile progress after he had abruptly sent Boyd home a couple hours ago. At first, it was due to him trying to work while angry, only seeing red and making very little progress. And then came the guilt, slowly eating away at him as he tried to rationalize his disciplining towards Boyd, before finally succumbing to his thoughts.

It was only a short while ago that they had gone to Tokyolk and Boyd was back in his care. He knew he had already hurt the little android upon his re-discovery, saying all kinds of hateful things out of his fear. He was glad that everything worked out in the end and him and Boyd were making progress, but at times it really felt like he was blowing it. Times like now.

People fumble up and make mistakes all the time, he knew as much from having Fenton as an intern. Hell, even _he_ messed up his own inventions quite frequently. Plus, Boyd was only a child, he was bound to be a little clumsy. He shouldn’t have just left his invention out and unsupervised anyway. It was more so his fault than Boyd’s, and yet he had let his anger take the wheel and unfairly criticized Boyd. Boyd was probably sat at home right now feeling _terrible, and it was all Gyro’s fault._

Gyro slumped in his seat, pressing his face into his hands. “...I’m terrible, aren’t I?”

”Oh, don’t say that!” Fenton piped, easily overhearing. “I’m sure you’ll get your latest project back up-and-running in no time!”

”Not _that_.” Gyro almost spat, before remembering his place. “I’m talking about Boyd.”

Fenton hummed an assent. “Yeah, you did rush him out of here kind of harshly…”

Gyro sighed forlornly. “I know. Honestly, I get that I created him and have a better understanding of him _in theory_ than the Drakes, but I know nothing about raising a child and he is, for all intents and purposes, a real child. I don’t know if I’m really cut out for this…”

Fenton frowned at his boyfriend’s ill will towards himself. This wasn’t the first time he had heard Gyro lament over this. “Hey, now! Don’t beat yourself up! All good parents make mistakes sometimes, it’s just human nature. I know for a fact that Boyd’s happy being in your care.”

”I doubt he’s very happy right now.” Gyro replied, fiddling with an errant pencil on his desk.

”Probably not. But I’m sure that would change if _someone_ took the day off a little early and went home to go apologize.” Fenton raised his eyebrows suggestively. “Maybe bring him some ice cream to make him feel better? I know he loves the stuff.”

”Oh, you’re right. But what if he wants nothing to do with me when I get home? I’m sure he’ll be very upset with me.”

Fenton shrugged. “I doubt it, but even if he is, I’m sure it’ll only last a short while. Sometimes giving a kid their space when they need it does wonders.”

Gyro snorted. “How come you know so much about raising kids?”

”I grew up with a lot of younger cousins! I used to babysit for them a lot when I was a teenager. Plus, I’ve been reading up on some parenting books recently. I figured, if I’m gonna be a part of Boyd’s life I might as well be prepared, right?”

”Right.” Gyro replied guiltily. He’d read through a few blogs and books of his own since acquiring Boyd, but it seemed like some of the ideas were just going right over his head. When it came down to it, parenting was more of a psychological forte, and he was never any good at understanding people, let alone children.

Just then, the two received a strange pop-up on their computers, and a sudden livestream was being blasted through the lab. Gyro’s heart immediately dropped into his stomach as the image of Mark Beaks posing with Boyd, captive in the background, was presented to him.

“Hey, y’all! As you can see, I got your boy- or your dangerous killing machine or whatever- and this time I got a little extra help enacting my revenge plan! Good luck finding us, I just wanted to flex on the fact that I’ve got him and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”

”I-I’m sorry Dr. Gearloose, Gizmoduck, please come rescue me!” Boyd pleaded, wiping desperate tears from his eyes. “I-I didn’t mean to ruin your stuff earlier, I’m really scared!”

Gyro trembled as he felt the worst kind of guilt twisting in his guts.

”Ooh, yikes. Pretty fucked up kid you got there, fellas. Anyways, peace!” Mark hastily ended the stream there.

”Oh, my God! G-Gyro, what do we do-” As Fenton turned to face his esteemed boss and colleague for direction, he was quick to find the chicken hunched over a trash can losing his lunch.

After seeing that video, Gyro had felt so ill, terrified and guilty that he had to rush to the nearest bin to puke. Seeing his precious creation in the clutches of one of his sworn enemies, crying and terrified, did things to his emotions he’d never experienced before and hoped he would never have to.

Fenton frowned as he came over to rub Gyro’s back soothingly. Poor guy, that video must’ve really stressed him out… “We’re gonna find him, Gyro. I promise.”

”I know. We’ve got to.” Gyro said, a fierce determination lacing his voice. Because failure wasn’t an option, he couldn’t even fathom a world in which he lost his boy. “We don’t have a choice.”

Fenton nodded, before going back to his computer and trying to trace where the video was streamed from. “The IP is blocked. Guess Beaks did receive assistance this time.”

Gyro sighed. “I’m going to try and bypass the firewall, see if I can get any kind of signal from the source.” Lighting up with an idea, though he was sure Mark would have already shut off Boyd’s tracking by now, he pulled out his phone and located the app he used to track Boyd’s location. He groaned in frustration. “His tracker shut down a few hours ago… But it looks like the last place he was was just a couple blocks from here.”

Guilt further threatened to consume Gyro, the knowledge that Boyd was still within walking distance when he was abducted further eating at him.

”Well, that’s a start! We can ask around, see if anybody working in those shops saw anything. Maybe check to see if any of those places had cameras?” Fenton said optimistically, trying to prevent his boyfriend from further spiraling.

”Yes, that’s good. Why don’t you go do that while I see if I can bypass the firewall and maybe get Boyd’s tracker up and running again.” Gyro promptly replied before planting himself back in his seat and quickly pulling up the properties to the video that was sent.

”Of course!” Fenton replied, before getting up to go and grab the Gizmoduck armor. Before leaving, he hovered beside Gyro and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Hey, it’s not your fault. I know you’re probably feeling all kinds of things right now, but the fact of the matter is that it’s Beaks’s doing, not yours. And soon enough we’ll have Boyd back in your arms. Okay?”

Gyro hesitated a moment, before replying flatly. “...Okay. Please hurry.”

Fenton frowned, before quickly leaving to go to Boyd’s last known location as promised. Gyro was bound to be all torn up over this no matter what he did, the best he could do was be there and provide moral support for his best friend and lover.

Gyro tried his best to push all his personal feelings regarding the issue aside, deciding if he could just be numb and not feel for a while he’d work best and find Boyd much sooner than if he were wasting time crying and screaming. And yet, Boyd’s scared, tearful eyes and terrified words kept ringing in his ears.

_”I-I’m sorry Dr. Gearloose, Gizmoduck, please come rescue me! I-I didn’t mean to ruin your stuff earlier, I’m really scared!”_

The guilt kept creeping up on him as he mulled over Boyd’s words. The poor kid was still attempting to _apologize_ to him while he was held captive. Good lord, what kind of complex had Gyro given him? He clearly wasn’t being a loving enough guardian if Boyd thought that Gyro would leave him to rot with Mark over a little spilled coffee. It made him feel truly awful, and he thought he owed Boyd a trip to a therapist when he got him back. _When_.

Gyro quickly shook the unhelpful thoughts from his head as he got back to work, trying his damndest to properly find Boy. _I promise I’ll find you._ he thought to himself, _I promise_.

* * *

Meanwhile, only a few blocks around the corner from McDuck's money bin, Fenton was currently talking to the shop owners around and trying to find any information on Boyd’s whereabouts.

”Excuse me,” He said, greeting the owner of a small cupcake shop with his ‘Gizmoduck’ voice while in the suit. “I’m investigating the recent disappearance of a young boy. He’s 11, an african gray parrot wearing cargo shorts, yellow shirt and a red bowtie. He was outside here around 3:15 today, buying from an ice cream truck. Did you see him, by any chance?”

”Oh, no!” The shopkeeper exclaimed in distress. “I saw an ice cream truck here earlier, I kept glancing over at it since it was stealing some of my customers. But I was busy and I didn’t see it leave, and I can’t remember if I saw any kids like that out here.”

”Completely understandable.” Fenton replied honestly. “Do you have any staff that might’ve seen him? Or security cameras?”

”The other staff member who was here earlier already went home for the day, but I can call her if you like!” She said earnestly, “And I don’t have any security cameras, but there’s an insurance firm across the street that does. I’m not sure how clear it’s view is of the shop, however, since it’s down the street a little ways.”

”Thank you so much.” Gizmoduck replied.

”Of course!” As she went to the work phone to dial the number of the employee that had gone home, she turned to Gizmoduck with an awkward smile and slight flush. “And, I hope this isn’t too insensitive given the circumstances, but could I get an autograph? My brother would think it’s so cool that I got to meet and help Gizmoduck today!”

”No problem.” Gizmoduck flashed a smile as he wrote his signature on a nearby piece of paper before sliding it over to her.

He then spoke on the phone with the aforementioned employee, who said she had seen Mark Beaks talking to a crying boy across the street, whom she thought was a family member of his given their similar features. She had also said that she got a pretty good look at the driver of the phony ice cream truck, a bulky falcon in his 30s with a mean look.

After gathering some intel, he made his way over to the insurance firm to ask if he could take a look at their security footage. As most folk find Gizmoduck to be Duckburg’s personal superhero, they were eager to let him take a look at whatever he wanted and even tried to sell him life insurance. While he politely declined, he took the opportunity to watch the footage eagerly.

The cupcake shop owner was right, the camera had a distant, blurry view of both the ice cream truck and the storefront. He got briefly excited when he saw the clear figure of Mark Beaks accompanied by Boyd as they crossed the street to the truck. The actual footage of the kidnapping, however, was more blurry and unclear. It was obvious that Boyd had been struck or snatched by something before disappearing into the van, Mark Beaks calmly following suit. The ice cream truck then raced down the street before disappearing off-camera. Fenton grumbled to himself, before downloading the important footage on a flash drive connected to the suit. It wasn’t the best, but it would have to do, and coupled with the intel he received from passerby he was confident that they had a good start.

When he later arrived back at the lab, he strolled in to find Gyro hunched over the computer on his desk, looking exhausted and on the brink of insanity.

”I don’t know when the fuck Beaks actually learned how to code.” He began, “But I cannot, for the life of me, trace the signal to the location it was broadcasted from, or find a signal from whatever camera he was using, or _anything_.” He groaned. “And of course, everything I do to Boyd’s tracker fails. I took apart and put back together my phone several times trying to fix the problem, and yet nothing works. _Please_ tell me you’ve had more success.”

Fenton smiled in sympathy, releasing himself from the Gizmoduck armor before gripping Gyro’s shoulder firmly. “You’ll be happy to hear that I have! I talked to a couple of store employees who said they saw Mark with Boyd, the ice cream truck he was nabbed in, and managed to give a decent description of the driver. Neither of them got the plates, however. Also, I got a flash drive containing the footage of Mark with Boyd, and him getting nabbed by the phony ice cream truck. There’s also the driver, but he’s only in frame for a split second. I assume that’s the _’help’_ Mark was referring to.”

”Oh, good.” Gyro breathed out a sigh of relief. “It’s a start.”

Gyro then snatched the drive from Fenton, before plugging it into his computer and pressing ‘play’ on the security footage. The scene was exactly how Fenton had described it, and Gyro zoomed in and tried to enhance the image to the best of his ability to get a more detailed description of the driver, as well as the license plate number.

”I assume the driver would’ve been smart enough to stop and change his plates somewhere.” Gyro lamented as he scribbled down the number. “But here’s to hoping.”

”Yeah! And I’m sure once we bring this information to the police, they’ll be able to find all kinds of eyewitness reports and security footage of where the truck was heading. I mean, pretty easy to spot an ice cream truck, right?”

”Let’s hope so.” Gyro let out a deep sigh. “Although I doubt the police will take us seriously, looking for an android child after all. They’d probably treat us like we’re crazy!” He slammed his fist on his desk in agitation. “They’re not going to care about Boyd when thousands of children go missing every year and they never seem to care then either.” He paused, before taking a deep breath and rubbing over the bridge of his beek. “I’m sorry, I meant no offence I’m just… Tired.”

Fenton rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, knowing Gyro didn’t hold any personal ire towards his M’ma, yet still feeling a little uncomfortable with his point and how true it could often be. “I know what you meant. Still, though, you can count on M’ma Crackshell-Cabrera to get to the bottom of this with the rest of her precinct. Plus, we could always ask Mrs. B, given her… Origins.”

”That’s true. You go talk to your mom, I’m paying a visit to McDuck manor.” Gyro stood abruptly, gathering his laptop, the flash drive and some other of his tools into his bag before turning to leave.

”Of course.” Fenton replied, eyeing Gyro worriedly as he strode out of the room with an almost crazed demeanor. He joined him in the elevator, before turning to him with a sweet smile again. “Hey, do me a favor and don’t drive yourself too crazy over this, yeah? He’ll be okay, he’s a tough, smart kid.”

”But he shouldn’t have to be.” Gyro argued. “And now he’s been in the clutches of a complete ego-hungry maniac for the past 5 hours. 5 hours with Mark Beaks is enough to drive anyone insane.”

Fenton laughed awkwardly. “Yeah… But just think, Mark doesn’t have it in him to physically harm Boyd. Literally! His bones are metal! He’s probably just boring him to death bragging about all his likes on Webstagram.” Fenton replied, trying to the best of his ability to reassure his partner.

”Hopefully.” He simply replied, appearing no more cheery as the elevator doors opened and he immediately went to wait for the pickup from the rideshare app he had just used.

Fenton sighed. It appeared he was having a one-track mind in regards to Boyd, which was fine, he was just hoping the chicken wouldn’t push himself too far. He went to his car, simply flashing Gyro a final reassuring smile as he drove off and into the direction of the police precinct his M’ma worked at. He thought that they were going to make headway and locate them soon, no, he was sure of it!


End file.
